Note to self: If you want to run your first half marathon in the morning, don’t plan on anything else for the rest of the day. That was pretty much the lesson I learned after yesterday’s experience. Thanks for all the good-wishes; I don’t know that I’ll be “just getting up and deciding” to break any previous PR by 3 miles any time soon. Unfortunately, after my half marathon, I had a full Greek class(see what I did there? ;-)). It’s not so bad since I literally translated this last year and remember most of it–yay for me! When I got out I stumbled over to the mailbox room, through the lunch line, and back to my dorm. My 1/2 tablespoon of White Chocolate Wonderful with breakfast that I had to talk myself into at the time caused a real craving and had me making the weirdest lunch yet:

I told you it was weird; I wasn’t going to do it, but I figured it’s best to listen to your cravings when you’re more active than usual. The vegan sloppy joe mix was from the cafeteria, and I think a medley of tomatoes, peppers, tempeh, and tofu. It was pretty good though a bit bland. The oats were perfect and soul-soothing; could you ask for anything more from a hot bowl of grains? While I was eating, I was so happy to find this in the mail:

Attune Coupons

Daniel from Attune sent over some coupons for me to sample and review some of their products and I could not be more thankful! I’m sure you’ve all heard me harp on about probiotics and how I strive to get 2 sources a day. Well, the people at Attune share my same enthusiasm for bacteria and probiotically fortify chocolate bars. Chocolate and probiotics–could it get better? I love my yogurt and frozen yogurt, but variety is always welcomed. Thank you, Daniel and Attune, I can’t wait to try these out. After some uber-duper exciting email reading and google reading, I came to a bit of halting reality: That Whole Foods and F.Y.E. trip I would have loved to take was not happening, not on my legs at least. It seemed I underestimated the strain my body would take and nothing was budging. Instead my afternoon looked an awful lot like this:

Sitting And Sipping Coffee

Oh yeah, that was deserved. This semester running might have persuaded my class scheduling a tad. Would it be too much if next semester running AND TV were taken into consideration? Didn’t think so. Well I made a list of all the History readings I “shoud’ve” done by this point. Yikes. I haven’t read anything for that class. Thankfully, it seems like the teacher hasn’t either, haha. Hopefully my being awake in class and taking notes will be enough combined with a little cramming come midterm time. I also took out some books and some snacks:

Chocolate Brownie Z-Bar

Poetry is never as fun as one would think; sure, it has rythym and soul. But the poet takes way too much “artistic liscence” and I’m not one of the people patient enough to dig for the deeper meaning. But if there’s anything I learned in high school, it’s how to BS an essay with crazy interpretating which is exactly what I plan to do for this class. On another note, I love Ellen. She’s always giving away money to unfortunate people on her show and that feels so good just to watch. I also made a delicious “mousse” around this time:

Peanut Pumpkin Maple Mousse

Yum. For this, I mixed 2% plain greek yogurt, 1/2 cup pumpkin, 2 tablespoons peanut flour, cinnamon, and stevia, and topped with maple-agave syrup. The peanut flour really thickens it, adds a depth to the flavor, and gives it a moussey texture. I was thinking of granola-topping this but it just seemed so perfectly light and airy on its own. I also caught up on HIMYM. Even though it was a Barney heavy episode, it wasn’t one of my favorites of the new season. I don’t like that Robin and Barney are becoming a boring couple. Oh well, some hit and some miss. By 5:30, I felt way too caged in and needed to get out, even if my legs wanted to stay behind. I picked out a nutty bar:

Honey Almond Flax Kashi Bar

On the one hand, I’m trying to eat whole, unpackaged food as much as possible. On the other hand, I have a lot of dorm-room stuff I need to eat before it goes bad, so I’ll be trying to fit them in exciting and creative ways into my meals. I decided that, if somewhere down the road someone asked me “how did you celebrate running your first half?”, “I didn’t” wouldn’t be a great response. So what would? “I went to a party that night, got smashed, and met Emma Watson”. Well that would make a good story but isn’t very likely and definitely isn’t me. “I got a gourmet cupcake.” Much better.

Cupcakerie Cupcakes

I went to Blue State Coffee where they carry these delectable goodies made by The Cupcakerie. These are the people who made that great Vegan Buttercream Cupcake I had for Cookie Friday. I also love them for this:

Blue State Coffee

Kosher, Shade Grown, Fair Trade, and Organic. Best yet–they always brew me a decaf whenever I go unlike some companies *cough*Starbucks*cough* who actually denied to brew my mom decaf at 6pm. Cupcake in hand, I went back to my dorm just as it started to rain. Unfortunately, I had to go back out in that rain to meet my friend, Adam, for dinner.

Zuchinni And Tempeh Bake, Ginger Vegetables, Chickpea Stew

Up to this point I was keeping a close eye making sure I was refueling well after my half. I couldn’t really keep track of the calories on this plate, but I used guestimation and all was right with the world. The tempeh was really good, as I always find tempeh. I love that touch of sourness from the fermentation. The vegetables were also surprisingly good. Not only were they cooked the right amount, but the ginger was present and popped through. Unfortunately, the chickpea stew, which had a lot of potential, was way too heavy and bland. I even added loads of cinnamon and salt and it couldn’t fix it. Oh well, overall pretty darn good.

After dinner was NBC Tuesday! I love The Biggest Loser, and haven’t missed a season yet. I just love the theme song; it has such an uplifting message, you know it’ll be an inspiring episode. I can’t believe how lucky Tracy’s gotten this season and how little weight she’s lost; that really bugs me and is not in the spirit of the show if you ask me. Sometime through I broke into the cupcake I purchased:

Wake Up and Smell the Cupcake

I went in for a carrot cake cupcake, but this one was the last of its flavor so I really felt like it was calling for me. It’s described as “An eye-opening mocha cake with espresso cream cheese frosting topped with a chocolate covered espresso bean”. Normally, I don’t do caffeine, but I made an exception 😉 I felt semi-bad eating this while watching people slave to lose poundage on The Biggest Loser. But not too bad because I’ve done my time in the gym and then some so this was well worth it. You just gotta learn what in life needs moderation. The cake was so incredibely moist–best not to think about how much oil must have been in it and just how good it tasted. And the frosting was cream cheese–just as I like it. I decided to opt out of the chocolate covered bean on top. I know it’s such a small amount of caffeine, but it was 9 at night and I’m a proud party pooper 🙂

While I was watching(and getting disappointed by the voting of The Biggest Loser), I did up a formal translation of the poem I’ll be writing an essay on, and, more importantly, made a snack:

English Muffin With Pumpkin Peanut Butter And Pumkin Cream Cheese

I’m officially getting annoyed by pumpkin. It’s everywhere, even in my room. I want to shun it and never see it again, but then I crave it. Since when did pumpkin become crack? I’m an addict. And Libby is my dealer.

Getting to bed has been a bit of a trouble lately. I’m a firm believer in shutting your computer off at least 45 minutes before you plan to snooze and lights off 30 minutes before. Living with a roommate, the second one’s not so easy, so I tried making due with the lights on to no avail. Thankfully, he had to go work on a project in someone else’s room a little after 11, but I still didn’t get to bed till around midnight and snacked on some carbs to get me to shut eye.

Peanut Butter Z-Bar

This morning’s run brought an interesting concept to mind. All through out the Summer when I ran and up till now, I’ve run the same distance give or take a mile day after day. now that I’m getting up there and spontaneously doing halfsies, that can’t be happening(because I am not running 12-14 miles daily. No way, no how). Varying my distance, and pace for that matter, are two things I’m going to need to get use to. I decided to do a traditional Tuesday/Thursday run and see how far I’d get in an hour flat. At the end, I ran 7.15 miles, so not bad. There were about 50 different food combos I was craving when I got back to my room. Rather than try a new recipe on the fly and potentially get disappointed by breakfast, I decided it was better to do 2 things right than 20 things wrong:

I am soooo excited for my Naturally Nutty shipment to come in tomorrow; these new seed butters are amazing. But when it comes to the good ol’ peanut, butter toffee definitely tops the chart for a great flavor. I feel like this is something obvious but worth saying: They key to good french toast oatmeal is in the spicing. I was dying for a good, runny egg this morning and this is the best way I know how. Just be sure to use quality cinnamon, sea salt, and vanilla powder if you have it, and it will really shine through.

I hope to get to a grocery store today but it’s going to be freezing in NE! How is it that time of year again? Worse yet, they were talking Christmas gifts on The Today show. Really? Already?

One Fit Foodie is having a Nasoya giveaway! I’d love to do some tofu-loving in my dorm on days when the cafeteria is boring as… something not tofu? haha.

16 Responses to “R & R”

I totally agree with turning the computer off 45 minutes before bed…I used to think it was a total placebo, but I have tested it time and time again, and I can never fall asleep if I just shut the computer right before I go to bed…Also I feel you on the pumpkin, I cannot stop eating it! sometimes I just dip a spoon into the pumpkin container….haha

you know, i might be the only person on earth, but i am not a fan of cake or cup cakes. i would mucccch rather have a nice dense sweet bread. cake is like .. sweet fluff nothing .. it doesnt do anything for me. and i cant stand frosting lol. carrot cake is the only exception :p

congrats on the half marathon! that is something to be MASSIVELY proud of! i hope to do one some day 🙂

congrats on yesterday’s half! i remember that i was DEAD after my first one – my legs were killing me and i spent the rest of the day in bed icing them and eating everything i could get my hands on. speaking of which, looks like you got some good fueling in!

I love cupcakes…and frosting… especially cream cheese frosting. Question about your running – do you plan your weekly running – like how many miles you want to hit every day? And do you take rest days? It seems like you run alot of mileage everyday!! Do you always go at least an hour?? I’ve asked a few questions on my blog about it ….if anyone has time to answer, I’d love to hear y’all’s opinions. Thanks!!

About

By day, I attend an ivy New England university. At night, I love to cook and taste. And somewhere in between all of that, I fuel for my passion of distance running. I blog about health tips, recipes, and product reviews. Have any questions? Want your product to be featured on my site? Drop me an email at Evan@FoodMakesFunFuel.com and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.